@ redbug:
Of course he should be in the Hall of Fame. He rebuilt the Yankees turning them into the most important sports brand in the United States. The Yankees were fudging attendance figures when he arrived just to be able to claim they reached the one million mark. When George arrived the Yankee TV package was for 69 games. The team couldn’t even sell out all the ad spots. On the radio side the weeknight West Coast Games were not broadcast on the Yankees flagship station (WMCA). 7 World Championships, 11 pennants, 18 postseason appearances, to argue he doesn’t belong is ridiculous. He’s not running for sainthood. Baseball reinstated him, maybe they shouldn’t have, but they did, so that ends that. I’m not a Pete Rose guy. I hope baseball does not put him on the eligible list, but if he is reinstated, he has to go in to the Hall of Fame.

I can definitely see the argument against Steinbrenner…double suspension, high payroll negatively affects competitive balance, childish public rants against players, belitting and attempting to destroy certain great players (Jackson and Winfield, to name two).

And yet, if the Hall of Fame has room for Charles Comiskey and Tom Yawkey, then it oughta hold it’s nose and make room for Steinbrenner, too. He was a more significant owner than either of them, and both of them has major negative marks against them. For Comiskey, it was being such a tightwad he practically pushed the 1919 White Sox into throwing the World Series. For Yawkey, it was being the last team to integrate.

If those two go in, then Steinbrenner can go in, too. Not saying he should, but if he did, it wouldn’t outrage me.